For the second straight year, the Boston Bruins enter the season as the clear favorite in the Northeast Division. Led by Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Seguin and Zdeno Chara, they return nearly everyone from last year’s squad that won the division by 10 points before getting upset by the Washington Capitals in the first round. Tuukka Rask is set to become the everyday starting goalie with Tim Thomas gone, and his .926 career save percentage indicates that he’s ready. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton, a top-10 pick in 2011, could be an impact rookie.

There isn’t another obvious playoff team in the Northeast, but a few others should compete for spots. The Ottawa Senators turned heads not just by making the playoffs last year, but by taking the top-seeded New York Rangers to seven games in the first round. Top forwards Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek are all back, as is Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. The loss of Filip Kuba, whose stellar defense-first play allowed Karlsson to get more involved on offense, could prove to be significant.

The Buffalo Sabres have made an effort to become tougher, with a trade to bring in Steve Ott highlighting the shift. It should pay off, but they’ll also need to score more if they hope to make the playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs have two of the game’s top scorers in Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul, but they’ll need better goaltending from James Reimer and Ben Scrivens if they hope to end an eight-year playoff drought. The Montreal Canadiens had the worst record in the Eastern Conference last year and face an uphill climb to get a playoff spot. Carey Price is a rock in net and Max Pacioretty and Erik Cole can score, but they’ll need their young guys to step up.

The New York Rangers, last year’s Eastern Conference regular season champions, should not only run away with the Atlantic Division, but repeat as conference champs and be the odds-on favorite to win a Stanley Cup. For the Rangers, however, there are little weaknesses that could prove fatal. They have the best goalie in the league in Henrik Lundqvist. His presence in net supports what may be the Rangers’ biggest question mark - their defense. But it also helps that this defensive group has the pleasure of serving behind so many forward stars. The Rangers have a skilled and gritty group of forwards, led by scoring stars Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik, and now that group includes offseason acquisition Rick Nash.

Then again, the New Jersey Devils took the Rangers down in the playoffs last spring in six games. Even though Martin Brodeur seems to be approaching his 80th birthday, the defense-first Devils system is still in place and still with superb players at every turn. What will really hurt, of course, is that team leader Zach Parise is no longer around, having joined those Wild spenders in Minnesota.

Once again building around marquee stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins will get their usual share of points and presumptuous Stanley Cup expectations. But the Penguins proved in losing a first-round series to the Philadelphia Flyers that defense is simply not part of their culture. That’s why this club will again go out early in the playoffs.

As for the Flyers, they are finally trying to build from within with younger players. They’ve added a few minor-role players, but otherwise are largely the same group of mostly young players that took down the Penguins. Presumed captain Claude Giroux just turned 25 and seems poised to fill the mantle many have for him - best player in the league, but around him is a thin defense in front of up-and-down goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

And despite the presence of rising star John Tavares, the Isles will miss the playoffs as usual.

The Southeast Division is coming off what is perhaps its weakest season in recent memory, thanks in part to a weak season by the Washington Capitals, who sneaked in at the seventh spot (tied with the eighth-seeded Ottawa Senators) and two points behind the division-winning Florida Panthers.

It won’t be as easy for the Panthers this time, as Washington is the favorite to win the division, for good reason. After the end of the 2011-2012 campaign, the Capitals hired Adam Oates to be their new head coach. Oates will run a more offensively-minded style than his predecessor, Dale Hunter, but will still emphasize defense more than Bruce Boudreau, who encouraged a high-tempo offense over defense. Oates’ style should play to the Caps’ strengths in top scorer Alex Ovechkin. The biggest question mark for the Capitals this season is their goalie, Braden Holtby, who had an outstanding postseason, but has only played in 21 games in the NHL, including the postseason.

In Florida, the Panthers need to rely on more offense, which came in 27th in the league in goals scored last year. How do they do that? They’ll need to see production from Marcel Goc, who suffered from injuries, and Tomas Kopecky, who had a down year. Expect to see Jonathan Huberdeau sometime this season. Huberdeau is the Panther’s top pick in the 2011 draft, and is playing in major juniors for now.

On the cusp of the playoffs are the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning. Although the Hurricanes finished last in the division last year, they had a productive offseason, trading for Jordan Staal and signing Alexander Semin. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay finished dead last in goals allowed, surrendering 281 during the season. With their new acquisition in net, Anders Lindback, the Lightning may stay competitive.

The Winnipeg Jets, in their second year since moving from Atlanta, are rebuilding. But is it enough to compete in the Southeast? It’s doubtful.

— Jeremy Binckes, Digital First Media

Central Division

The Central Division was turned upside down last season when St. Louis emerged on top ahead of perennial powers Detroit and Chicago. The Blues’ 43-15-11 record to end the season was due in large part to a coaching change – Ken Hitchcock – and a goalie tandem – Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott – that conceded just 165 goals. This team stayed pretty much intact and should contend again.

The Red Wings, who finished third in the division for the first time since 1990-91, suffered the biggest loss on the blue line this offseason with the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom. They then lost Brad Stuart in a trade to San Jose. But Detroit may be the deepest it has ever been up front.

Nashville, which bounced Detroit from the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2006, had the second biggest loss on the blue line when Ryan Suter bolted for Minnesota. The Predators then nearly lost Shea Weber before matching an enormous 14-year offer sheet Philadelphia made before losing their top two D-men in one offseason.

The Chicago Blackhawks’ roster has seen little change – Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook – from the team that won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago.

Columbus should again be the doormat of the division, coming off a league-worst 65 points a year ago.

— Chuck Pleiness

Northwest Division

The NHL’s Northwest Division has had something of a “What’s behind Door No. 2?” quality to it, as if Monty Hall were the division’s commissioner. Some years, the collective talent in the Northwest has been great - with Vancouver representing the division in the Cup finals in 2011, Calgary in 2004 and Colorado in 2001. But other seasons - such as last year, the talent was thin, when only one team (Vancouver) made the playoffs.

This year? The division is on the upswing again. Vancouver again is at the head of the class, with the Sedin twins looking well suited for a 48-game season (they did just fine in the 82-game ones too) and new starting goalie Cory Schneider looking ready to assume the sizable duties in the Canucks net.

The biggest question in the Northwest could be: how good will the Edmonton Oilers be? They have the last three No. 1 picks of the NHL draft on their roster, along with newcomers such as Justin Schultz, a sought-after college player free agent who posted 48 points in 34 games for the AHL’s Oklahoma City during the NHL lockout. With all that young talent - and with much of it playing together during the lockout, the Oilers could be primed at the pump again.

Colorado has a lot of young talent, but still seems a ways off from being back to their former elite status. Gabriel Landeskog is the NHL’s youngest captain, but otherwise the Avs seem too much like the team that missed the playoffs last year.

The Canucks could get their biggest divisional challenge from Minnesota, which signed free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to huge contracts over the summer. They will make the Wild better, but enough to get back into the playoffs? It still could be tough for Minnesota, which has holes remaining on their bottom lines and lower on the defensive depth chart.

The Calgary Flames could be the one team that falls well behind the others, but there are still several great veteran players on the roster, starting with forward Jarome Iginla and goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. The Flames also have a new coach in former Cup champion Bob Hartley, who will get his team to play hard every night.

The Los Angeles Kings squeezed into the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference and went on to win their first Stanley Cup last season, proving anything is possible in the deep and talented Pacific Division. Every player who was on the ice at the final buzzer of the final game of the Final last season is back on the Kings’ roster, a rare feat in league history. There are injury concerns about top-line center Anze Kopitar, who sprained his knee while playing in Sweden during the lockout; rugged defenseman Willie Mitchell, who had knee surgery two months ago; and goaltender Jonathan Quick, who had back surgery last summer. Otherwise, what’s not to like?

It seems as though the San Jose Sharks are always contenders, which means they’re always pretenders, too. Sharks coach Todd McLellan will be on the hot seat if the Sharks don’t live up to their potential and make a deep playoff run. With forwards such as Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, you would think the Sharks would have won a Cup by now, but you would be wrong.

The Phoenix Coyotes and the Anaheim Ducks were big surprises in the Pacific last season, but for different reasons. The Coyotes made a stunning move to reach the conference finals before losing to the Kings. The Ducks’ underachieving cost Randy Carlyle his job as coach. Bruce Boudreau replaced him and Anaheim went a credible 27-23-8 the rest of the way, but still missed the playoffs.

Nobody expects much from the Dallas Stars, which is why they should not be overlooked. Young players such as Loui Eriksson and Jamie Benn give the Stars a shot at a playoff berth. Adding an ageless veteransuch as Jaromir Jagr certainly didn’t hurt the Stars’ skill level.